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Earlier this year the NSW Law and Justice Committee released its report from the Inquiry into Legislation on Altruistic Surrogacy in NSW.
The report made several recommendations. The most significant — and in line with the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby’s own recommendations — was that there is a need for a new legal mechanism for the transferral of legal parentage from the surrogate or birth mother to the intended parent/s by court order.
Currently in NSW altruistic surrogacy is lawful. However, to ensure greater legal certainty and stability, especially for a child, a new legal mechanism for the transfer of legal parentage needs to be established, which would also be federally recognised under the Family Law Act.
The GLRL made other recommendations including the need to stipulate what reasonable expenses can be reimbursed to a surrogate mother, the need to maintain the right to privacy and not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
For further information or to read the GLRL’s submission to the Inquiry, please visit www.glrl.org.au, or to view the Law and Justice Committee’s final report, please visit http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lawandjustice.
The GLRL hopes to meet soon with the NSW Attorney-General to discuss the Government’s intentions since the release of the report. In the meantime, parenting orders from the Family Court remain the best available form of legal recognition.
A recent SSO article provided evidence of how the law surrounding surrogacy arrangements entered into overseas seems to remain less clear, and that further consultation and reform is required. If a couple or individual enters into a surrogacy arrangement outside Australia with the intention to raise the child in Australia, the parentage of the child if transferred to the intended parents overseas will likely not be recognised in NSW.
As the law remains less clear in relation to surrogacy arrangements entered into overseas, the GLRL would be interested to hear from members of the community who may have entered into overseas surrogacy arrangements, or are considering doing so. To provide us with your story or thoughts, please email us at [email protected]
Reminder: The GLRL is still running its survey for the review of the NSW Charter of Victims Rights. To complete the survey, please visit our website by Thursday this week.